Adventures in Home Recording (Part I - Get a recording that gets you where you need to go)

One of the unexpected joys of my musical journey came to me in the form of home recording.  What I believe makes DANGER INVITES RESCUE a great and interesting project is the fact that it was recorded on technology that is essentially available to anyone with a decent laptop computer. Like a lot of musicians in my age range, my first experience with DIY recording was making a demo on an analog 4-track machine.  My first band, Tomorrow's Yesterday, had been playing and performing for about 3 years when the rock radio station (FMX 94.5) in our sleepy west Texas town of Lubbock, TX announced an under 21 battle of the bands to occur during our city's July 4th celebration downtown.  We kicked ass and won real studio recording time (but that experience will be addressed in a future post).  FMX required all bands submit a cassette demo to enter the competition.  It's strange to think now that this was still in the time when cassette was the popular format for independent musicians to record.

We gathered in our drummer's basement--our regular Sunday afternoon rehearsal spot--and set up couch cushions, blankets, and mattresses to isolate the instrument amps, vocals, and drums.  While the consumer recording technology we used offered the ability to layer tracks, we chose to perform the songs live to get as good and tight of a sound as possible.  It sounded…about as as good as you would expect a high school band’s demo to sound from 1997.  Listening to it now is a little cringe-worthy, but it served the purpose of getting us into the Battle of the Bands.

A good demo is good as long as it gets your band or songs where they need to go.  The technology to record yourself has never been cheaper or easier to use.  All Apple Macintosh computers ship standard with the amazing Garageband application which is as easy to use as Mario Paint (80’s throwback—holla).  I have heard incredible albums recorded using this program, so you don’t need a studio full of fancy mics and ProTools to get a good recording.  There are many resources available for cheap or no cost to help you get on the road to making really great music in a home studio.

The album I am currently recording, Rescue, will likely be the last record I record using my home studio.  When the record is done I’m having a fire sale on my equipment and will likely not have the ability or space to have the studio I have now, SO…I am offering my recording and production services for a limited time in my home studio, The Bear Haus, to songwriters and bands who need to get a really great-sounding demo.  Click on the Bear Haus Recording link above and purchase blocks of 8 hours of studio time for just $100!

Thank you again for your time and support.  Go out and make some music yourself and share it.

-HW